1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to servicing a very large number of wide spread environmental equipment systems, and more particularly provides a system and method for verifying that the associated alarm circuits for these systems is operational.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many low volume wastewater treatment plants are owned by individual homeowners or small entities who cannot realistically afford to employ personnel on a daily basis to maintain and repair their wastewater treatment facility.
Due to the high costs of daily service personnel for small systems, environmental regulations may require that manufacturers of small wastewater treatment systems be certified to make, sell, and service suitable systems and then permit the smaller certified systems to be inspected and tested on a less frequent, but periodic, basis, such as quarterly, biannually, and the like. A system may be certified after extensive testing of the system design by a suitable certification entity. Environmental regulations/certifications may also require automatic detection of system problems, e.g., a pump failure or other types of failures. If a problem is detected, regulations/certifications may also require that service personnel arrive within a relatively short time, e.g., within forty-eight hours, to promptly correct the problem. If the systems do not operate properly, then untreated wastewater from the system may eventually reach local streams. If such problems occur frequently with thousands of small systems, then environmental problems could result.
The alarm circuit for the systems, like any other component, may also malfunction or lose power. If the alarm circuit is not operational, then problems may remain undetected. Some states require that the alarm circuit be powered from a different breaker than the environmental equipment so that if the breaker trips due to system malfunction, that the alarm will still operate for providing a warning. In at least one state, regulators additionally want the power for the alarm circuit to be tied to a light or other power circuit used by the homeowner, so that the homeowner will be aware of a power failure on the alarm circuit. Otherwise, the power to the alarm circuit may fail without observation by the homeowner.
Wastewater systems for home owners are generally positioned away from the house. Installation may require running cables and wires such as telephone lines, power lines, and the like. Additional telephone lines may incur additional costs if necessary for sending/receiving data.
Environmental regulations/certifications relating to regular maintenance and inspection, as well as prompt repairs of wastewater treatment systems, are necessary and desirable to protect the environment. In some cases, non-governmental companies, such as NSF®, have been created to provide certification of equipment for compliance with NSF® requirements that relate to regulations, rules, and/or standards for such systems. Certification requirements may relate to maintenance, inspection, and repairs, as well as technical requirements for system outputs/operation such as suspended solids, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, color, oily film, foam, noise, BOD, odor, reliability, and the like. Thus, as used herein, environmental regulatory bodies may include governmental agencies, municipal governments, other governmental organizations, and private companies that effectively provide rules, standards, regulations, certifications, and the like for wastewater systems.
Due to such regulations, rules, and standards, which may vary from state to state, monitoring systems are presently available for wastewater treatment systems. Upon sensing a problem in the wastewater system, the monitoring systems may be required to produce a visual and auditory warning that will normally be readily detected by the homeowner. In this way, ideally, the homeowner would promptly contact his service company for repairs, and ideally, the service company would promptly repair the problem within the time limit required by regulation/certification. Some regulations require that the service company name be displayed on the system to permit easier contacting of the service company by the homeowner. Some systems provide a telephone dialer to directly contact the service company in case the homeowner does not recognize the problem immediately or see/hear the monitor warning signals. In some cases, the telephone dialer provides two-way communication to provide the ability for additional testing and remote servicing to thereby save service costs. In some cases, regulations may also require stickers and punch-out cards with the maintenance schedule mounted to the systems to verify that scheduled maintenance and/or testing has been timely performed. Not for profit organizations, such as NSF®, may be used and/or required to certify the type of equipment for suitable operation and certify that the manufacturer provides suitable maintenance plans for the equipment owner and personnel qualified to maintain the equipment. Homeowners often are required to purchase a maintenance plan for a service time, such as two years, with the manufacturers or other service providers who are certified to install and maintain such plans. Homeowners are often required by regulations to renew their initial service contract, which may be for two years, for as long as the equipment is utilized; however, after extensive review and research in this industry, the inventor has identified significant problems that still exist with such systems and that are discussed hereinafter in some detail. For instance, when homeowners obtain a service contract, it is often difficult for homeowners to verify that the required maintenance has actually been performed and that repairs have been made by the service companies in a timely manner.
Consequently, there remains a need to provide an improved monitoring system to protect the environment. Those of skill in the art will appreciate the present invention, which addresses the above problems and other significant problems uncovered by the inventor that are discussed hereinafter.